Newbie question

According to the yeast people, rehydration is the proper way. However, they also said there is so many viable yeasts in 1 5g package that it doesn't usually matter, unless you're planning on fermenting in difficult conditions, like low temperature or high sugar must.

Pp

Marty Phee wrote:

For kit wines, I sprinkle on top because everything is somewhat sterile and you don't have to worry about wild yeast.

If using fresh fruit, rehydrate and get an active culture going because you want to compete with the natural yeast and other spoilage bacteria that resides on the fresh fruit and rehydrating is going to guarantee you have more cultured to overwhelm the "natural" yeast and other spoilage organisms.

Welcome. As mentioned, you are better off rehydrating the yeast. Here is a good link from one vendor, there are many. The page has an article on rehydrating yeast.

Joe

pp wrote:

As everyone above says, you really should dehydrate. It is the best way to go. That said, I sprinkle on top of any of my wines that I make. I once read an article on starting wines that was on one of the big name yeast company sites. It recommended that you sprinkle the yeast on top and not stir. then when you see it start to form colonies you should stir it in shallow. then when it starts to bubble you stir it in deep. Since then the article has disappeared so maybe the company did not approve of the recommendations and maybe with good reason. But it has worked for me.

Ray

This is a question that is raised often. Tim Vandergrift (Tech Svcs Mgr at WinExpert) has answered this in other forums, as the WinExpert kits are among those that recommend just sprinkling. Basically, his response is that, yes, if you follow the rehydration instructions very carefully, as to temperature and timing, you will get the greatest amount of active yeast in a short period of time. However, those instructions must be followed very carefully. If the water is too hot or too cold, you won't get good results. If you wait too long after rehydration, or not long enough, you won't get good results. The experience of the kit makers is that too many customers just don't follow the directions closely enough to get consistently good results. On the other hand, sprinkling the yeast on the surface and letting it rehydrate at its own pace works very nearly as well, with much less effort. Even using the sprinkle technique, you can stir the wine after the initial rehydration period (starting, say, a day after sprinkling). You just don't want to stir in the yeast immediately, as the yeast takes time to acclimate itself to the new environment.

So if you're willing to measure the water temp. with a thermometer and follow the rehydration instructions precisely, go ahead and do that. Personally, I'm lazy; if I'm using one of the mainstream wine yeast strains (say, Premier Cuvee, or EC-1118), I just sprinkle, cover loosely and walk away. I've done 30 or 40 kits that way, as well as fruit wines, and some from fresh grapes. Never had a problem with it.

Doug

In article , Doug writes

I am not too certain what is involved in rehydration, but I tend to use a starter bottle with about 1/4 pint of luke-warm water and half a teaspoon of sugar to activate wine yeast before adding it to the must. Some winemakers use liquid from the must for the same job claiming that it helps to give 'direction' to the yeast, but I would think that it will get that when added to the must anyway.

After you get your starter going as you described, then you can add a little of the must to the starter to get it acclimated to the conditions.